Commit and be prepared to learn, says Prof Khosi Xaba as she is conferred Rhodes University’s Doctor of Laws
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Pretoria – Award-winning South African anthologist, short storyteller and an Associate Professor of Practise in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg, Professor Makhosazana ‘Khosi’ Xaba has added another feather to her cap after being conferred with a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) by the iconic Rhodes University.
“I think the thing is to commit to work hard.
“The road is never simple.
“It takes committing to yourself to work hard, be clear on what you want.
“If you do not have the resources, look for them, reach out to people.
“Be prepared to learn,” Xaba spoke to IOL at the institution in Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape.
Asked by her future goals, Xaba responded: “I wanna write, and write, and write.
“There are so many things, stories that need to be told.
“There are so many projects I am working on currently.
“I started too late because my life was taken over by different struggles.”
Xaba is also an essayist, poet and editor.
Born in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, Xaba is trained as both a midwife and a psychiatric nurse.
She has worked with national and international NGOs and media organisations in the areas of women’s rights, gender and anti-bias training and violence against LGBTQI++ communities.
During the second state of emergency in 1986, she went into exile, returning to South Africa in 1990 with the ANC Women’s League.
Xaba is commissioned by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research to translate Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth into isiZulu and was formerly based at Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research as a research associate.
Her long-term project is writing the biography of Helen Nontando Jabavu.
She began writing poetry in 2000.
She has an Master’s in Arts (distinction) in creative writing from Wits University, Certificate course: Epidemiology for Clinicians from Wits University, Baccalaureus Curations (cum laude) from University of Zululand, Diploma in Journalism (distinction) from Werner-Lambertz International College of Journalism, Diploma in Psychiatric Nursing from Midlands Psychiatric Nursing College and Diploma in Nursing Science & Art & Midwifery (distinction) from Edenvale College of Nursing.
Xaba has authored four collections of poetry - the most recent 2021 title is The Art of Waiting for Tales: Found Poetry from Grace, a novel and one collection of short stories in addition to her extensive editing work across genres.
Her short story collection has been analysed in literary and academic journals and theses and is taught at more than five South African universities, and universities abroad such as Rutgers, Hawaii University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to name a few.
She has served as a judge for numerous poetry competitions – most recently the 2021 Brunel International African Poetry Prize.
Her poetry has been translated into six languages.
She has featured in numerous anthologies and has been a writing fellow at institutions for health and social and economic research.
Xaba has also had previous experience working in the philanthropy sector supporting the South African health sector.
Before this, she worked as a women’s health specialist and queer rights advocate through national and international NGOs.
She is an Umkhonto we Sizwe veteran.
Rhodes University vice-chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela said Xaba received the university’s highest honour “in recognition and celebration of her long and sustained contribution as a dedicated and committed activist for a free, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa”.
IOL